The Reflection of a Shadow
by Ultimate Inuyasha Sonic Fan
Summary: A thoughtful one-shot. Looking back on Shadow and trying to understand why he is the way he is.


_**Sorry! Haven't updated in a while. This is posted as my apology for not being able to update for a while. Got a party today, so I'll be on and off. Tomorrow I'll try and update both my stories. But for now, enjoy this!**_

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Shadow had horrible life and lost all people he cared about(Maria,Gerald,Molly)... i can't stop feeling bad for him when i listen to this. Sega... give us this guy back. And don't you dare make him like in Generations and Boom... I'm sick of Shadow being so useless and pathetic in games nowadays. Sigh* but i guess Sega will just keep doing what they are currently doing to him and others... if Shadow is evil, terrible and useless again in upcoming movie or game... that's it. I'm done with Sega! I will use my imagination if i have to! Shadow will always be a true hero in my book." ~ Devil Hunter (YouTuber), February 2015, of the song _Broken_ by Sins of a Divine Mother.

"Also, I think this song would have made a good "Neutral-Dark Story" theme. The lines "This is who I am / Not a shadow of who I want to be" imply that Shadow regrets the path he has chosen, while the line "You aren't ever gonna change me" suggests that Shadow believes it's already too late for him to step off the path of darkness. In a way, this song would be Shadow's final cry for help before he succumbs to the dark and destroys everything." ~ FlameUser64 (YouTuber), 2014, of the song _Who I Am_ by Magna-Fi.

"Memories? No. Shuddering whispers and flashing lights. The end result of a hastily created mind. And he saw a deeper message in those hollow memories that wasn't there to begin with. Driven by such demented fantasies, he did great, awful things to so many people. Was he an accident or a weapon? Something else? It doesn't even really matter anymore. The dark fog clears yet the naked light burns worse than any fire or metal. To wade through the rubble of your ignorant destruction whilst enlightened is a humbling, painful experience. Every twisted beam and crumpled slab of stone, every destroyed home... every limp body. He did this, knowingly, but only when he knew why did he finally know to stop. He can't change who he is or why he is. He can't fix what he's done. He'll fight for his atonement if only out of loss of anything else he could do, but he knows the truth about who and what he really is when the cards are dealt. Good, bad, it boils down to one fact. He is the Chosen One." ~ Invisifat NotApplicable (YouTuber), February 2015, of the song _Chosen One_ by Mona Lisa Overdrive/A2.

 _I sat and read these comments, thinking about their meaning. I smiled to myself and continuously clicked on more videos, read more comments. My computer screen was lit up, the room filled only with the sound of me scrolling down with my computer mouse. "Shadow," I murmured, "You really do mean a lot to these people."_

 _I stood up, feeling like I might be taken over by the fangirling urges inside of me as I stretched._ Shadow really does have it bad... _I thought._ His life truly is filled with sadness and sorrow. _I sighed and let the last song finish playing before turning off my computer and heading to bed._

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My eyes opened to see a faint line of light on my wall. I looked over at my window and saw that it was early morning. I decided to get up and stretch a bit before heading down to breakfast, where I silently ate some buttered toast that was set out for me. The rest of my family was going to be out today, my parents on a business trip together, my sister hanging with friends at the city square... I was alone. But that was good. It was just what I needed.

I went to the computer and immediately got back on YouTube. My mind swirled with emotions and ideas as I listened to various songs from _Shadow the Hedgehog_ , the video game. I leaned back as a new video came up in the recommended list. I clicked on it, forcing myself not to read the comments as I just watched the video.

Maria's death. It was a video showing Maria's death, in all its forms, Shadow's desperate, heartbroken outcry of her name echoing in my head through all of them...

I got out of YouTube, logged off of the computer, and sat in my room.

 _Shadow...You have it the hardest. You don't know your own past, nor can you see your future. The present is all you can see, but even that is blurred because of your lost history. How can you decide what you are,_ who _you are, when you don't even know what or who you_ were _? It takes someone with real power and spirit to do something like that. Just like you. If the only things you can truly remember are your name, Shadow the Hedgehog, Maria, and your last sight before being sent into space, that which changed you forever...Then how can you be so strong?_

 _I don't go through near all of that, and yet... I'm so weak..._

 _Shadow..._

 _My only question is...How?_

It was then that tears decided to flow down my face like a river of salty drops. I buried my face in my hands and thought about him. About Shadow. He who went through hell and back, he who was changed forever, he who doesn't remember, even himself, he who lives a false and confused existence...He who is lost...

And yet, he who is stronger than anyone else.


End file.
